Chapter 54
54
===
My mother came to my room only after the evening dinner.
Then she sent Beatrice and Yan out of the room.
'Even Yan?'
It seemed she was quite concerned about Yan understanding what was said.
Only then did my mother ask me.
"Honey, do you have something to tell Mom?"
My mother's voice was relaxed as she asked that.
'You did something wrong, didn't you? Go ahead and confess.'
But if she came expecting that kind of conversation, she was wrong.
'I'm not going to apologize.'
Just then, I noticed a bird-shaped brooch made of gold and diamonds on my mother's chest.
"Um, but..."
As I pretended to be distracted, my mother looked down at me, puzzled.
"Can you lend me that brooch for a widdle bit?"
"Brooch? Why this..."
My mother seemed disappointed that I didn't confess my wrongdoing right away, but she took off the brooch and handed it to me anyway.
"It looks pretty, but the pin is sharp, so be careful. It'll hurt if you get poked."
Of course, it would.
I held the brooch and looked up at my mother with a bright smile.
"Mom."
"Yes?"
"Pwomise me you won't heal me if I get hurt in this woom wight now."
"What?"
My mother's face began to crumple in earnest.
"Honey, you shouldn't say things like that carelessly. The royal palace is safe, but it's not always that way for everyone."
I held my mother's hand tightly with the hand that wasn't holding the brooch.
"Jusst for a widdle bit. Jusst a widdle bit."
My mother didn't answer in the end, but it couldn't be helped.
In front of her, I pricked the tip of my finger with the sharp pin on the brooch.
"Lilin...!"
Without even trying to think of sad things, tears streamed down my face.
'It hurts so much...!'
Even so, I quickly hid my finger, afraid that my mother would use her Healing Power.
Then, as my mother watched anxiously, I dripped tears onto my finger.
As expected, the blood disappeared and the wound healed.
"...Lilin?"
How good it was to hear my name called by my mother at that moment.
"Mom, I have..."
My voice seemed to tremble a little as I finally spoke the words I had wanted to say even in my dreams.
"...Healing Power."
My mother couldn't speak, and she groped at my healed finger.
'It was just a tiny wound that my mother could have healed with one finger.'
But my mother's face looked no different from that of a commoner seeing Divinity for the first time.
Unable to believe it easily, she asked.
"You? You're only four years old...?"
I nodded and replied.
"I healed Yan with my tears when he got hurt. It's tweally twee. I have... Healing Power."
I had imagined this day countless times since becoming a baby again.
In my imagination, my mother always smiled brightly and hugged me, but what I actually saw were my mother's tears.
"Lilin, my baby. Thank you..."
It was my mother's tears, which I had never seen even for a moment in my life.
"Thank you so much."
She only repeated the words "thank you" without even having the time to ask me about the details.
Tears streamed down my mother's cheeks.
How faithful and devout that face was.
'The joy of gratitude that only Rosa received...'
I finally savored it and hugged my mother back.
Then, I calmly said the words I had prepared.
"I can feel my Divinity increasing when I wear the bracelet. That's why I asked Icarus. Because I need it more than Rosa... Because Rosa doesn't have Divinity yet."
"I see..."
My mother seemed to understand me well enough.
No, it seemed she was no longer interested in the bracelet.
I seized the opportunity to boast.
"And this is a secret, but I collected my tears and gave them to Gabi? So Gabi's cough stopped."
"Her cough stopped...?"
My mother now hugged me and wept.
"Ea, thank you. Thank you..."
Complete Divinity that could heal not only external wounds but also internal ones.
It was what my mother had longed for all her life.
"My proud baby, thank you so much..."
My mother couldn't stop crying for a while.
From my mother's unfamiliar and fragile appearance, I could gauge the weight of the secret she had carried alone.
'My mother, who deceived even the husband she shared a bed with for the sake of the Divination and the country.'
Yet, my mother, who had never wavered even once, must have cried alone in the shadows like this.
'Maybe my mother's heart wasn't made of steel after all.'
I waited for my mother to stop crying and told her all the stories I had missed.
"As for how I knew my tears had Healing Power..."
The story of how Yan wiped my finger with my tears when I was pricked by a needle while playing, and the wound disappeared.
"I was worried because Gabi kept being sick. I wondered if maybe I could heal Gabi..."
Even the story of collecting tears and testing them on Gabriella.
'Of course, I embellished it appropriately.'
We were so happy that we put down all our worries for a moment.
Even our secret, which we still had to protect for a long time.
"It seems you had a good talk with Your Highness, Your Highness."
During bath time, Beatrice brought up the topic with a curious expression for once.
My mother's face, which was flushed unlike usual, must have been quite impressive.
"Um, yes."
I smiled secretly.
I had already received my mother's recognition, so I just had to endure until the seven-year-old Divination somehow.
'Since I have Divinity, the Divination will naturally be mine.'
Then Beatrice would be able to live well enough as a maid of the chosen Princess.
Filled with anticipation, I puffed out my shoulders and swaggered.
"Tris, I'll make sure you live comfortably later."
"Yes? Live comfortably?"
Beatrice laughed as if she had heard a funny joke, but I was sincere without a grain of exaggeration.
'I don't remember it properly, but Tris must have had a bitter departure before...'
Even if it was something that would no longer happen, I wanted to compensate Beatrice.
While we were having such a conversation, the bath was over, and Beatrice put me to bed.
"Have a good dream today, Your Highness."
"Good night, Tris."
It was the day I put down one too heavy burden.
I felt like I would fall asleep as soon as I laid my back on the cozy bed, but another worry quickly raised its head.
'Did Chelsea really leave?'
My mother said with a sorry expression when I said I wanted to help Chelsea.
"I'm sorry, honey. But Chelsea must have already left. Mom prepared a new house, a ship, and compensation and sent her away."
The fact that Chelsea wasn't abandoned without a penny was a small comfort, but...
'It's true that she was kicked out because of me.'
Thinking that, my excited mood subsided.
'Will a different maid really come tomorrow?'
Rosa would definitely hate it if her maid suddenly changed.
Yan, who had left the room with Beatrice in the evening, finally returned and took his place by my head.
—Beep beep beep beep.
"Yaan, you have to be quiet at night..."
I reached out and patted Yan to soothe him and fell asleep.
'Now that things have turned out this way, I hope Chelsea can settle down safely in another place...'
However, contrary to the mother and daughter's wishes, Chelsea was in terrible trouble.
"How many times do I have to say it? How would I know if Princess's bracelet, that Nigel's Sacred object, is fake or genuine? I don't have Divinity, I don't have anything. I'm just a maid!"
"But isn't Divinity something that everyone desires? 'Tears of Baha' amplifies the Divinity of servants, so ordinary people tend to expect it. Maybe I have Divinity too... and so on."
Chelsea rolled her feet while tied to a chair.
Every time she did, there was a loud noise, but since the Marquess's guards were guarding the house tightly, it seemed impossible for anyone's help to reach her.
"Hey, Marquess Norbon. Does Grand Duke know what you're doing now? All I did in the royal palace was take care of Princess for four years until my body broke!"
Her voice was hoarse from claiming her innocence all day, but Marquess Norbon didn't even blink an eye.
'I should have just followed the King's order.'
The night before.
Chelsea packed her bags to leave as ordered by the King.
The coachman urged her to leave immediately, but even though she had him waiting in front of the house, her luggage kept increasing.
'I have to buy everything new anyway when I get there.'
Chelsea's frugality brought disaster.
While she was opening all the large bags she had and packing her luggage, men she had never seen before burst in.
Then they treated Chelsea like a criminal and tied her up, and said to the man who appeared later.
"She was trying to escape, Your Excellency."